ALL-COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY: Muessig, Kasper named Runners of the Year

More often than not, athletes become better athletes when they are challenged on a daily basis by their own teammates. It keeps them sharp and work harder.

That was true this past cross country season on several of the local teams, having two runners who would push each other not only in practices but in competition.

Two runners — Clinton High School senior Dominic Muessig and Tecumseh junior Katie Kasper — benefitted from having to stay focused and sharp or else lose their number one standing on their teams. Both runners responded well to those challenges and have been named the Lenawee County Runners of the Year as chosen by the Daily Telegram sports staff.

Muessig learned right of the gate this season that he better step it up if he wanted to be Clinton’s consistent No. 1 runner. In the season-opening Whiteford Bobcat Invitational, Muessig finished fourth in the race, but second on his own team as senior teammate Ryan Rogers reached the finish line eight seconds earlier than did Muessig. That was the last time Rogers got the better of Muessig, but Rogers always provided plenty of pressure as the two were seldom far apart at the finish line all season long.

“We’ve been running since our freshman year together and it’s been great to have him as a teammate,” said Muessig, who is confident he’ll be running for Siena Heights University next fall. “I have to give a lot of credit to coach (Kurt) Hillegonds for my success this season because he pushes us and pushes us to become better. He is a speed workout maniac, and we did a timed 800 near the end of the season, and that really helped me at states.”

By the end of the season, Muessig found himself with seven invitational titles, including firsts at both the county preview meet and the county championship meet. His hard work paid off as he finished 13th at the Division 3 state finals to earn All-State honors and at the same time running a lifetime best of 16:12.7. That’s five and a half minutes faster than he ran in his first varsity meet at the 2009 county preview, where he finished in 21:56.4.

He was especially inspired by what happened at last year’s state meet, where he finished just two places out of All-State recognition.

“The two guys who were just ahead of me and pushed me out of an All-State finish were the only two guys who passed me during that race, I was usually the one doing the passing,” he recalled. “There was no way I was going to let that happen this year, and I thought of last year’s race while I ran at this year’s states.”

Also a proud moment for Muessig was getting his name on the cross country board in the high school gym, where it lists the best times by each class of runner. He became the fastest senior in Clinton history with his state time, erasing that of David McKay, however, just missing out on being the all-time fastest runner, that being Eric Kemner.

“I really wanted to get into the 15:50s this year, but I didn’t quite make it,” Muessig said. “But I’m still pretty happy with the season. We won the TCC the last two years, and I think my best race came early in the season at Woodhaven, where we ran against a lot of Division 1 and 2 runners, and I finished third.”

Kasper’s season virtually began way back in the summer at a team camp, where she decided to shoot for her goal of running 20:56 or better. It didn’t take long for her to surpass that personal challenge.

“After I broke into the 20s early in the season, I didn’t set any more goals except to just help out the team,” she said. “And by the end of the season, this team set so many PRs it made for a great season. After the third meet (20:51), I started thinking maybe I could get into the 19s, but I tried not to think too much about that, but just go out and run hard every meet.”

Like Muessig, Kasper has had the good fortune to have a teammate for competition every day in practice, that being Jessica Tebbetts, who for the last two seasons has won the county preview freshman/sophomore race.

“Jessica and I run together a lot during a race and we’re constantly encouraging each other,” Kasper said.

The two would battle back-and-forth, and after Tebbetts beat Kasper by one second at the Blissfield Early Bird meet, Kasper established herself as the Indians’ No. 1 runner the rest of the season. She became the only county runner to break 20 minutes and set a lifetime best of 19:49.69 to finish fourth at the Division 2 regional at Lake Erie Metropark.

“I was very happy with that time because the season was coming to an end and I didn’t know if I could get into the 19s. Then I did it again at states, and it was a great way to end the season.”

Kasper had all she could handle at the county championships, where just 30 seconds separated the top six runners. Morenci’s Tatyana Pless was just five seconds away from Kasper at the finish, and Kasper was relieved.

“Tatyana and I are both very competitive and we’ve had some good races over the years,” Kasper said. “It’s a fun rivalry and there’s no hard feelings at all. Our times were close all year long, and having good people to run against only makes you work harder.”

Ironically, Kasper’s showing at the county championships was her lone first place for the season, however, she turned in nine top 10 finishes in bigger meets. She took some time off when cross country ended for the season, and is now doing some off-season work, which will include running in a couple indoor track meets at Hillsdale College and the University of Michigan.

“We got some of the track girls together and we’ve been running some miles to get ready for indoor track, and hopefully we can have a good outdoor season,” she said.

Kasper won’t be a true distance runner during track, she said, but will run more middle distance races.

“Running eight times around a track (3,200 meters) is not my favorite thing to do,” she stressed.

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